lif files.

[Khoi Pham]

Hi,
I have a huge file under /dev areas.
Its a lif files. I have no idea what it is for
but the system is out of space.
Is this file important for the system to run.
Can I get rit of it to save some space.
I'm running Hp-UX 10.x

[Helen French · Accepted solution]

What is the actual file name? Do an ls -al on it and post it. /dev directory normally contains device files for the system and it should not contain any "lif" files. Also do a "file lif_file_name" and see what type of file is it.

[Bill Hassell]

/dev should never have any ordinary files. If the find command:

find /dev -type f

returns anything, it should be removed. The only files in /dev should be device files, directory files and perhaps some symbolic links.

[Khoi Pham]

Here is the info on the file.

/: write failed, file system is full
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 906362880 Jan 9 12:38 nul
test_stn:/dev$ file nul

/: write failed, file system is full
nul: lif file

test_stn:/dev$ lifls nul

/: write failed, file system is full
FS SWAP ISL AUTO HPUX
PAD

[Kent Ostby]

You need to do two things.

#1) Find out if there is a process writing to "/dev/nul" using ps:

ps -ef | grep null

If so, kill it.

#2) remove the file, someone fat fingered it and typed in : /dev/nul instead of /dev/null.

Best regards,

Kent M. Ostby

[Bill Hassell]

Very common error. Someone logged in as root (/dev cannot have files created in it by anyone except root) and misspelled the devicefile name /dev/null. Instead, they sent a large file, probably using a lifcp command to /dev/nul and therefore created an ordinary file. Remove it.

[Jeff Schussele]

Hi,

I suspect someone typo'd a mkboot command such as
mkboot -l (-b, -a, etc)
to a nonexistent device which caused the write into the /dev directory. We frequently see this symptom when someone typos the tape device /dev/rmt/0mn - usually by using O/o instead of 0 (zero)

Remove the offending file to free / space back up. You can remove the "nul" file but DO NOT remove "null or "nuls".
Also look down in /dev/rdsk & /dev/dsk for a "file" that shouldn't be there.

HTH,
Jeff

[Helen French]

Yes. Somebody (root user) wtote 'nul' instead of 'null' in a system command (may be a dd command?) and that saved a big file in /dev. You can safely remove it.

[Daryl Much]

I've thin-fingered that one before myself! I now have a link on my systems:

ln /dev/null /dev/nul

keeps my fingers honest...

- Chuck